


A Cretaceous Encounter

by Mother_of_Eevees



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-04-21 08:53:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22058329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mother_of_Eevees/pseuds/Mother_of_Eevees
Summary: "I thought this was the Natural History Museum, not Jurassic Park!"
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei, Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	A Cretaceous Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to [Lost (Cars) and Found (Friends)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19055077), set a little after their meeting. You don't need to have read it, though.

“Ah, we’re a little late. I was hoping we’d get to see Hunter,”

Instead of the main entrance, they went behind the museum to an unobtrusive door. Tsukishima showed his badge, nodded at the guard and led Kuroo through the staff entrance, down a worn flight of stairs and through a maze of hallways decorated with framed posters of past exhibits. He pushed open a door and suddenly they were in an exhibit hall.

“Staff entrance. Most of my work is at the Tar Pits, but I’ve been helping with the Antarctic Dinosaurs exhibit,” Tsukishima explained. “The exhibit’s around the corner, but first let’s see if we can find Hunter.”

“Who’s that? A friend of yours?”

“Oh, he’s very friendly,” the blond said cryptically as he led them to the elevator, which creaked its way up to the second floor from the basement.

“So, which way to the dinosaurs?” Kuroo turned, and suddenly found himself face to face with a real dinosaur. It was at least as tall as he was and covered with a pattern of feathers. Then it turned to look at him with inhuman eyes and sniffed at him as it moved closer to him. “Uwaaa?” he croaked, and jumped behind Tsukishima. “Tsukki, what the heck?”

Tsukishima stifled a chuckle. “Ah, we’re just in time. This is Hunter, one of the stars of the Dinosaur Encounter show at the museum.”

“You have real dinosaurs here? I thought this was the Natural History Museum, not Jurassic Park!” He kept the blond between himself and the dinosaur, who had stopped and was still sniffing at them. He realized that he had grabbed Tsukishima’s hand when the creature had first startled him, but he kept holding on to it. He had nice hands; they were warm and dry. He felt a reassuring squeeze from Tsukishima and heard a quiet snort of amusement from the blond.

“Let’s let him pass and then we’ll go watch the show,” Tsukishima grinned and waved at the dinosaur and his handler, a tall man with dark hair and freckles who smothered a laugh and waved at Tsukishima as he walked by.  


As the dinosaur ambled past, he turned back to look at Kuroo and Tsukishima, and Kuroo was positive that the dinosaur winked at him.

“That wasn’t a real dinosaur, of course. Right?”

“Of course it wasn’t a real dinosaur, they’ve been extinct for millions of years. That was a puppet.”

“A puppet?” Kuroo blinked in surprise.

“Yes, and there’s a person inside operating it. Let’s go see the show, and then you can meet my friend Tadashi,”

They followed the dinosaur down the corridor and into the darkened hall, where a man in a khaki vest was talking about dinosaurs to a large group of small children. At a cue, Hunter made its entrance and the children screamed in joy as the puppet chased the host around the stage, snapping its jaws and trying to grab him. 

“That is an amazing puppet!” he whispered to Tsukishima. “I know it’s not real, but at the same time, I think it is.” He pulled out his phone and took a short video to send to his friends back home.

After the show, they wandered around the main hall for a few minutes, looking at the centerpiece tableau of a T. Rex and a triceratops locked in battle. Tsukishima’s phone buzzed and he glanced at it. “Tadashi’s on his way,”

“Tadashi is actually here - the wifi is overloaded again,” said a voice next to them. “You must be Kuroo,” Yamaguchi said, turning to Kuroo and extending a hand. “I’m Tadashi Yamaguchi, puppet wrangler and Tsukki’s oldest friend. I’ve heard a lot about you recently,”

“Yamaguchi,” said Tsukishima warningly, eyes narrowed, as Kuroo shook Yamaguchi’s hand with his eyebrows raised. “So, what did he say about me? Devastatingly handsome? Fiendishly intelligent? Good kisser?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny any such discussion has taken place,” Yamaguchi said mischievously. “He did mention how you lost your car in the mall though!”

Kuroo mock-groaned. “Clearly, I’ll never live that one down,”

“In your defense, that parking lot is a maze even if you’re familiar with it. And if it got you together with Tsukki, it’s worth a slightly embarrassing story, right?” Kuroo nodded and re-laced his fingers through Tsukishima’s.

“I’ve got to get back to the puppets for the next show, but it was nice to meet you, Kuroo! See you later, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi waved and winked at Tsukishima, who rolled his eyes and led Kuroo to another set of elevators and pushed the “up” button. Once an elevator arrived, he waved his badge over a sensor and pressed the button for the fourth floor. “We’re going up to the staff level,”

“Is that where the magic happens?”

“I suppose you could say that,” Tsukishima said, as the doors opened to the fourth floor. Tsukishima led them through a hallway, past a mural of a dinosaur done in an Impressionstic style. The mural was unframed, and it was edged in white space around all four sides. As they got closer, Kuroo noticed that the white space was full of names, most done in a childish scrawl.

Tsukishima glanced at the mural. “I haven’t seen this one in a while,”

“Look at all the names on here. Was this from when you came here for summer camp?”

“Maybe,” said Tsukishima, glancing at the date on mural, “But it was a long time ago, when my family first moved to California.”

“Oh well, it would’ve been a good story, but - wait a minute, isn’t that your name?” Kuroo pointed at the top of the canvas, where two sets of kanji were penciled along the top. Tsukishima stopped and looked closer.

“Yes, I suppose it is. There’s Tadashi’s name, next to mine.” Tsukishima smiled fondly. “That must’ve been the summer we met. We were in the same group and we both stayed late in after-camp. We were both miserable; I was homesick and some of the kids in our group were being jerks to him. Thanks for pointing that out, Kuroo - I don’t remember signing that, but it’s definitely my handwriting.” They walked a little farther, and he turned to Kuroo.

“This is one of the fossil rooms. Want to see something cool?”

“If you call it cool, it must be cool. Show me!!”

Tsukishima guided them to the second row of cabinets, opened one, and pulled something off the middle shelf. “Hold out your hands. This is going to be heavy, so don’t drop it.”

Kuroo’s eyes widened as Tsukishima pulled out a dark, cylindrical object about a foot long and placed it in his hands.

“Wow, it’s heavy! What is this?”

“A fossilized T. Rex tooth,” Tsukishima responded.

“A real fossil! Why is it so heavy? I didn’t think bone weighed so much,”

“It was bone millions of years ago, now it’s rock,” replied Tsukishima, putting a hand under Kuroo’s and pointing out features of the tooth with his other hand. “Most of this is the root, only about a third of it is the part that was doing the biting and tearing. Most of its strength was in the jaw - it had the strongest bite of any animal that has ever lived.” 

With Tsukishima helping support the fossil, Kuroo touched the serrations with a finger, then moved his hand to cradle Tsukishima’s cheek before sliding into his hair. “May I?” 

At Tsukishima’s nod, Kuroo closed his eyes and kissed him, gently at first then, as their lips opened, tilting his head and deepening the kiss. 

Millions of years passed in an instant, or so it seemed when they finally broke apart. 

“Maybe,” Kuroo said breathlessly, “You should put that priceless fossil away so I don’t have to worry about dropping it.” 

“Isn’t the danger is part of the fun?” replied Tsukishima as he took the fossil and put it back in the cabinet. Then he pulled Kuroo behind the door and kissed him some more.

When they finally broke apart, they were both flushed and panting as if they had just run around the building.

“That was a very instructive tour,” quipped Kuroo, reaching out to smooth Tsukishima’s hair. 

“I’m glad you found it informative,” said Tsukishima dryly, straightening Kuroo’s collar and leaning in to nip at his ear.

“Perhaps we should continue this discussion somewhere else?”

“Most definitely,” said Tsukishima, closing the cabinet and leading Kuroo back the way they came.

**Author's Note:**

> You can see some footage of the dinosaur puppets [here](https://youtu.be/OxZz6dH-JZE). I actually did bump into one on its way to a show a few years ago and it was quite convincing.


End file.
